Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist jailed for throwing his shoes at then President George W. Bush in December 2008, was released on Tuesday. Missing a front tooth, he said that he was tortured and that he feared for his life, believing that American intelligence agents will pursue him.
Al-Zaidi claimed that after his arrest he was beaten with iron bars, whipped with cords, splashed with water in the December weather, and shocked with electricity in the backyard of a building in the Green Zone. He vowed to reveal the names of senior officials in the Iraqi government and army whom he said had been involved in his mistreatment. He then added:
These fearful services, the US intelligence services and its affiliated services, will spare no efforts to track me as an insurgent revolutionary … in a bid to kill me… And here I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially, or professionally.
It is reported that Zaidi will travel to Greece to address health concerns. In addition to a standing invitation from Muammar Gaddafi to come to Libya, the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez offered al-Zaidi citizenship and $100,000.
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Shaath’s recent statement plays down the importance of this expected meeting, especially if it does not reflect a consensus in the balance of power between the “new blood” and the veterans of Fatah. Read the rest of this entry »
And so the final chapters of the story of Muntazar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then US President George W. Bush in December 2008, are being played out.
All very political and predictable. Al-Zaidi had to do some jail time (and take a beating) because of the Iraq Government’s embarrassment. Now that Bush is an ex-President, however, all the fuss can be put away quietly.
And that quiet dismissal of the protest against the Bush Adminstration’s treatment of Iraqis will undoubtedly succeed: the irony is that the news of al-Zaidi’s reduced sentence comes as the current US President, Barack Obama, makes a surprise visit to Baghdad and seizes tomorrow’s headlines.
The Associated Press is today reporting that a number of Iraqi clerics are calling for the release of Muntazar al-Zaidi, who was jailed for three years for throwing a shoe at former President George W Bush. According to AP:
Sheik Suhail al-Iqabi, a follower of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the sentence against Muntadhar al-Zeidi is “a verdict against the Iraqi people who refuse the American occupation” of Iraq.
And:
Another Shiite cleric in the Sadrist stronghold of Kufa also condemned the prison sentence.
“We just wonder on what law the judge has based his sentence. Was this verdict taken to satisfy their masters?” Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi said during a sermon. “Why do you not try the Americans who are killing the Iraqi people in cold blood?”
Unsurprisingly, al-Zaidi was sentenced to three years in jail. Unsurprising because a prison stay of 15 years, which he could have received for “assaulting” a foreign leader, risked affronting global opinion, while on the other hand, his challenge to Bush could not go unpunished.
To try and keep a lid on protests, Iraqi authorities cleared the courtroom of family and journalists before the sentence was announced.
Update (10 a.m. GMT): The presiding judge adjourned the trial until 12 March so the court can ask the Iraqi Cabinet whether Bush’s visit was “formal or informal”. That indicates a political decision is being sought on whether to seek the maximum 15-year sentence for al-Zaidi or to try him on a lesser charge.
After weeks of near-silence, some news on detained Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi, jailed for throwing his shoes at former President George W. Bush in December. His trial will begin 19 February, according to a judge of the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council.
It will be the first time al-Zaidi has been seen in public since his detention.
Latest (Friday evening in Iraq): The sculpture has been removed after a request from the central government in Baghdad. Police visited the site to ensure the request was carried out. The provincial deputy governor said, “We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives.”
Muntazar al-Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush in December, is still languishing in an Iraqi jail, but his act hasn’t been forgotten.
Those orphans who helped the sculptor in building this monument were the victims of Bush’s war….When the next generation sees the shoe monument, they will ask their parents about it. Then their parents will start talking about the hero Muntadhir al-Zaidi, who threw his shoe at George W. Bush during his unannounced farewell visit.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist jailed for throwing his shoes at then President George W. Bush in December 2008, was released on Tuesday. Missing a front tooth, he said that he was tortured and that he feared for his life, believing that American intelligence agents will pursue him.
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Fatah Backs Away from Negotiations with Israel: Nabil Shaath, who was re-elected in August to Fatah’s central committee and is a former Palestinian prime minister and foreign minister, 
And so the final chapters of the story of Muntazar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then US President George W. Bush in December 2008, are being played out.
Update (10 a.m. GMT): The 
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